[Douglbirds] DFO trip to Franktown

[ouzels8]

Urling and I hosted a DFO trip around Franktown today -- I guess we should have posted a notice of it on Douglbirds, but it didn't occur to me.

The big surprise came at Walker Pit (half a mile wet of the Franktown traffic light, on the north side a quarter mile up Walker Road). A contingent of geese has kept a small water hole open. We counted 500 geese today, half Canada and half Cackling. With them, the surprise: one Greater White-fronted Goose. That's a first for the Franktown Basin, whose bird list now has soared to 251 species.

We walked Gateway Mesa -- the Castle Rock Open Space on the south side of Colo 86, at the top of the hill coming out of Franktown. Not a lot of birds, though we saw 3 solitaires, a Canyon Wren, and a couple of croaking ravens. 

We also visited Gina Gerken's home in Castle Pines, where Red Crossbills come to a feeder attached to a window. She also has Pygmy Nuthatches swarming around her house. Then we had lunch at our house, where only 60 juncos showed up for lunch (I counted 146 last night). With the juncos, 3 Tree Sparrow and one Harris's Sparrow who obliged us by hopping into sight very cooperatively. 

Hugh Kingery
Franktown, CO 
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